


Slow Fire

by LadyHallen



Series: One-Shots of Various Fandoms [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, ghost!harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 19:36:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6164194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyHallen/pseuds/LadyHallen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagi was ready to die. The ghost in the hospital was kind. But, instead of falling, she burned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow Fire

“What’s it like, to die?” she asks

He blinks ghostly eyes at her, the hint of green shimmering. “Well,” he says slowly. “It’s cold. But mostly, it’s lonely.”

She sighs, eyelids fluttering shut as she rests her non-physical self on the edges of the bed, spirit not even making a dent on the sheets. Alone in her hospital room, Nagi looks at her physical shell and understands.

“Lonely, huh,” she murmurs.

Because it is lonely, to die in her hospital bed, without visitors, nightstand devoid of flowers and the entire thing just looking impersonal and bare. Mechanical, with all the beeps and buttons, telling her how long she has left.

“You better go back inside your body, my dear,” the kindly ghost tells her, prodding a little. His hand is a warm, tangible thing in a world of cold and the intangible. “If you go outside too long, you’ll return to the light sooner than you might like.”

She spares him a smile, even as she shudders to go back inside. Her body is dying, and she doesn’t want to be inside it when it happens. One usually didn’t last long when missing that many organs.

“You may not be able to see me,” the green-eyed ghost tells her warmly. “But I will be with you as you pass from this world to the next, my dear. You won’t be alone.”

Nagi almost cries, but she laughs instead. “Really?”

To be alone as she goes, what a terrible thing.

He nods and gently eases her back inside her physical shell. As she rearranges her limbs, Nagi already feels the phantom pain, not even erased by the pain-killers.

“Close your eyes,” he whispers, looking more solid than anything, despite how translucent he was. “And it will be just like falling asleep.”

Nagi gives him one last look and falls.

.

* * *

 

.

Somehow though, she lands on her feet.

She had expected that the next time she opens her eyes, she would be in the afterlife.

The green-eyed ghost had promised her a pain-free death, but this did not feel like death. She could still feel the lingering pain that seeped through the haze of pain-killers.

Had he lied? Was he just her hallucination then? Or a dream?

But a coalescing of purple fire appears in front of her and a boy, with hair so dark it had purple tints, crouches in front of her.

“Hello,” he says. “What are you doing?”

What a peculiar question!

“I am dying,” she tells him, because what did she have to lose? She could feel it, the slow and creeping coldness that the ghost had implied.

“That’s a bit sad,” he answers. “Why?”

Nagi is a bit surprised. Even the green-eyed ghost had not asked her why she was dying. Only that she was, and that he would comfort her as she passed. A question like that...why was he asking?

“Because I am missing organs,” she says. “But why are you asking?”

He laughs, an awkward sound like he did not genuinely laugh often. “Because very few people can wander like what you and I are doing. It’s called Mind Walking and only the very powerful can accomplish it.”

Powerful? Her? She is dying.

“I don’t suppose I can re-grow organs?” she asks, feeling a bit annoyed.

He laughs again. “No,” he says. “Not you. It takes years to master this kind of thing.”

Ah, of course.

“That’s alright then,” she murmurs, already figuring out how to go back to her dying body. “It was nice talking to you.”

Surprise is all over the boy’s face. “Aren’t you going to ask me to grow them for you?” he asks.

Nagi, having just met a ghost and already eased to the idea of dying, just sighs at him. “I thought the really very powerful people are the busy sort?”

He looks annoyed. “I’m in prison. The inescapable prison of the mafia. I can’t exactly be busy in this place,” he says curtly. “Well?”

Now that she thinks on it, the idea of not dying is a really good thing. The green-eyed ghost had been very kind to her, but she likes the idea of living too. He had told her that there was nothing to fear, but he had not told her there was nothing to regret.

“And what do you want in return?” she asks, because her mother had taught her that, even if it was inadvertently.

“To possess your body, occasionally. It won’t cause you anything but tiredness. And it won’t be often,” he says, laying out the terms.

“My family situation isn’t exactly perfect,” she warns him, laying out everything. Full disclosure, she thinks. “My mother.... isn’t kind. My father.... well....”

He gives a wicked smile. “Oh, that’s the kind of thing that’s interesting to play with. Then?”

At the back of her mind, the part of her that still thought of her mother as someone to please, wondered what she was doing. She quashes that part firmly. She didn’t really want to die. Resigned to it, but this option of living...

“Of course,” she says softly, touching his hand to seal the deal, like a proper businessman, father once said. Something tells her his name, a flicker of purple fire that travels up her hands when she shakes it. “Mukuro-sama.”

At the suffix, a smug smile flickers across his face. “It will be lovely to work with you, Nagi-chan.”

The hated name makes her shudder. “No, not that name. Give me something else,” she asks.

He moves closer and surrounds her in colored fire. “Ah, that would be fine, Chrome-chan.”

Mukuro’s fire is around her, inside her and anchoring her, delaying death and chaining her firmly to the earth. At the same time, he entered her mind and though Nagi-Chrome is finally aware of her own fire that flickered and waned like a guttering candle, she allows that fire to part and let him in.

He settles easily and for the first time, she realizes how...compatible the both of them are. Her mind is lighter, more sensitive and able to bear and endure more hurt. His mind is darker, so dark and capable of inflicting a great deal of pain. His emotions are all over the place while hers are a calm river of it.

Mukuro is worthy of the suffix she gave him, she realizes. Because despite everything that has been done to him, there is still a pool of innocence that he usually tries to ignore but can’t hope to stamp out. It is admirable.

“Mukuro-sama,” she says, because she feels his careful awe of being one with her. “Welcome home.”

He stills, and warmth surrounds her.

.

* * *

 

.

The ghost blinks in surprise when she wakes and gasps in air.

“Oh,” he says and then laughs. “Your eyes look lovely, my dear. It seems you’ve found your inner fire.”

In her mind, Mukuro-sama perks up at the sight of the ghost. He is curious.

“I – I thought I couldn’t see you anymore inside my body..” the sentence trails into a question and she winces at the slip. Her mother would slap her for her weakness, if she were here.

“You should not be able to,” he agrees with her. “But your eyes are special now. Well, eye. Cover it up, it’s rather catchy. Not everybody can see those flames.”

She understands what he means when she looks into the mirror by her nightstand and sees colored fire where her left eye used to be.

“An eyepatch would look lovely,” the ghost continues.

“Thank you,” she tells him, sincere gratitude in her voice.

He pats her on the head and slowly fades. “It was my pleasure, my dear. Just remember, death isn’t something to be frightened about, but life isn’t something you run from either. Enjoy your second life, Chrome.”

Mukuro-sama urges her to dress and leave, and it is only when Chrome is paying for a ticket with conjured money, that she wonders how the ghost knew her name when she never told him.

* * *

 

**Just wanted to imagine a ghostly!Harry**

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also available at [tumblr](http://ladyhallen.tumblr.com) for any worldbuilding questions and prompts.


End file.
